Lessons from Lord Rosebery
Britain's political elite are often criticised for having few achievements away from Whitehall. Richard Foreman contrasts their inexperience with the 19th-century statesman Lord Rosebery.
Before he became Prime Minister towards the end of the 19th Century, a number of people argued that Lord Rosebery was one of the greatest Prime Ministers that the country had never had. However, after his brief tenure in office many argued that Lord Rosebery was conversely the worst Prime Minister that Britain had ever had.
Rather than straddling the political consensus it seemed the case that Rosebery – although often popular with the people – could not carve out a successful space in the Houses of Parliament. The Tory Party attacked him for what they perceived as his progressive and radical views, and the Liberal Party criticised its own leader for being too Conservative. Rather than straddle things, he often fell between two stalls.
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